The cold is biting again and I can’t wear enough layers and drink enough hot drinks to keep warm. I also love healthy comfort food so my recipe today is my vegetarian take on a classic Indian dish – saag paneer. It’s a staple on Indian restaurant menus but if you haven’t seen it, it’s a spinach and paneer paneer curry that hails from Punjab in northern India.
Although I didn’t grow up on it myself, in a funny way it reminds me of my childhood and my childhood nemesis – creamed spinach, which I was forced to eat regularly as an anemic child. As I suspect most kids, I had to put up with it to get my hands on dessert (some things haven’t changed 😉), but now the taste of this curry – which in my opinion is tastier than creamed spinach – makes me strangely nostalgic and comforts me.
One of the main ingredients of this dish – is known all over the world Saw the breadcrumbs (Although feather cheese More precisely, palak = spinach) is Panir, a type of hard cheese made from dairy milk. Since this ingredient is obviously off limits for a vegetarian, I tried to imitate the cheese with tofu. I used firm, well-pressed tofu to approximate the texture of cheese and dipped it in a mixture of seasonings, aromatics, and spices to remove the spice and add flavor. It’s obviously not the same thing, but I’m really happy with how the finished dish turned out and we’ve been enjoying it a lot lately.
It’s also pretty quick to make. The marinade only takes seconds to assemble and the spinach sauce, unlike many dishes of this type, does not require a long simmer. In fact, I cook it for about 10-15 minutes to retain as much of the spinach’s nutrients as possible. It benefits from being made a day ahead, but if you don’t have that luxury, that’s perfectly fine too. I hope you will try it and if you do, you will enjoy it.
More about ingredients
tofu: Firm tofu replaces cheese in this traditionally vegetarian recipe. For maximum flavor, I marinate the tofu overnight in a mixture of seasonings, spices, and aromatics to absorb all the flavors. If you want to prepare it in advance, you can marinate it longer, up to 3 days.
lemon juice: I used lemon juice to give the tofu a little cheesy tang and more to season the spinach sauce. Besides adding flavor, lemon juice helps our body absorb the non-heme iron in spinach.
Nutritional Scream: Nutritional yeast, a staple vegetarian seasoning made from inactive yeast, helps flavor tofu with a slightly cheesy flavor.
cumin seeds: Cumin seeds are used to flavor the base oil of curry sauces and to marinate tofu.
yellow: Turmeric is the main spice of this Indian cuisine. I used a little to flavor the tofu and more to flavor the sauce.
garam masala: Garam masala, a hot spice blend commonly used in Indian cuisine, is used in the sauce in two ways. I add some to the roasted spices and toast very gently before adding the liquid and sprinkling a little more at the end to finish the dish. I also use a small amount of this mixture to flavor the tofu.
Garlic and ginger: Garlic and ginger need no introduction, I’m sure. They belong to a group of vegetables referred to as fragrance and forms the backbone of the most delicious dishes around the world. Garlic and ginger are real staples of Indian cuisine (along with onions and chilies) and so they’re used here to flavor the curry sauce, and I’ve thrown some into the tofu marinade to help me cut through its blandness.
Spinach: Spinach is the main ingredient of the sauce although traditionally mustard leaves were often used. As this dish has become a staple on Indian restaurant menus around the world, the mustard greens have been replaced by the more readily available spinach. I use fresh spinach, but frozen spinach works just as well. There are two options when it comes to texture. If you want to make the sauce smoother, process the spinach in a blender. I personally like a bit more texture to this curry sauce, which is why I pulse it a few times in a food processor instead. If you dislike spinach, why not go back to the roots of this dish and use a crunchy dark leafy green? Both mustard leaves and kale would be fine options, but be aware that they each bring their own flavors to this dish.
Vegan cream: Cream is the final ingredient in this easy curry sauce. I used the Vegan Single Cream by Oatly, but any vegan single cream product will work just as well. Alternatively, you can make your own cream by mixing soaked cashews with a small amount of water or, if the coconut flavor doesn’t bother you, use full fat coconut milk in place of the vegan cream.
Traditionally, this dish is made with paneer – a firm dairy cheese, but since I wanted to make this dish vegetarian, I decided to imitate paneer by using tofu. I pressed it, cubed it and then marinated it in a headache of spices, seasonings and aromatics to give it maximum flavor. Then I baked it in a hot oven to make it firmer, crispier and the marinated flavor more intense. Another option – if you don’t mind using a little more oil – coat it with potato starch after marinating and pan-fry it in hot oil until crisp on all sides.
To prepare the spinach, add a splash of water to a hot pan and then pile up as much spinach as possible. Use kitchen tongs to move it all around the pan to avoid scorching any leaves. Add more spinach as the first portion wilts. As soon as the spinach is almost all wilted, turn off the heat and let it finish on the residual heat.
When all the spinach is wilted, lift it out of the pan with your kitchen tongs and add it to a food processor. Pulse until it is quite finely minced. You can blend it in a food processor (with or without the roasted spices in the next step), but I personally like some texture in this dish.
Preheat a medium sized pan, add oil and when the oil starts to shimmer, add whole cumin seeds and I also used a good chilli flakes (you can use fresh green chillies instead, if you add it later, garlic and ginger with). After a few seconds, add the onion and fry on low-medium heat until almost translucent. Stir often.
Next, add the garlic and ginger (and fresh chilies, if using) and fry until both are soft and fragrant. Then add the dry spices and let them toast gently until fragrant (make sure your heat is low). Stir the whole time.
Finally, add the minced spinach and cream. Simmer for about 15 minutes and your spinach sauce is ready. Serve over baked (or fried) tofu, rice or/and a slice of vegan naan bread (recipe to follow).
- 400 g / 14 oz firm tofu, pressed
- 60 ml / ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- Half a teaspoon of turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ cumin
- Half teaspoon garam masala
- ½ tsp garlic powder or 1 clove finely grated
- Vegetable oil, for baking (or frying)
- 2 tablespoons potato starch or cornstarch (fried option)
Spinach sauce
- 30 ml / 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- A pinch of chili flakes or fresh green chilies (optional)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger (finger size pieces)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Half a teaspoon of turmeric
- Chilli powder to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala, divided
- 400 g / 14 oz fresh (or frozen*) spinach
- 180 ml / ¾ cup vegan single cream
- 10 ml / 2 tsp lemon juice, adjust to taste
remaining ingredients
- 360 g / 2 cups basmati rice, cooked or vegan naan
- Fresh cilantro / cilantro
method
‘cheese tofu’
- Cut the pressed tofu into uniform, bite-sized pieces. Mine was 2.5 cm / 1″ square.
- Combine all remaining ingredients (except oil and potato starch) and 120 ml / ½ cup water in a medium-sized, flat-bottomed dish/box. Arrange the tofu slices on top and spoon the marinade over the tofu.
- Refrigerate the tofu. Marinate as long as possible, ideally overnight. Stir the tofu now and coat all the pieces evenly.
- Baked option: Preheat the oven to 200 C / 390° F. Remove the tofu from the marinade and arrange on a paper-lined baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, after 15 minutes coat the dried tofu pieces in 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of oil and return to the tray, bake for another 15-20 minutes.
- Fried option: Remove tofu from marinade and coat all sides with potato starch. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, once the oil is hot, arrange the tofu in the pan. Pan-fry on low-medium heat, turning the pieces regularly, until golden brown and crispy.
Spinach sauce
- Heat a large frying pan, add a good splash of water and half of the spinach. Using kitchen tongs, move the spinach around the pan. When most of it dries, add the second half and let it dry.
- As the spinach wilts, lift it from the pan (leaving any moisture behind) and place it in a food processor. Pulse a few times until evenly minced. You can also use a blender, but I personally like it to retain some texture.
- Clean the frying pan, then heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Allow them to sizzle a little on low heat before adding finely chopped onions and a good pinch of salt.
- Sauté the onion over low heat until almost translucent (about 10 minutes) before adding the garlic and ginger. Continue stirring frequently for another 5 minutes or so.
- Make sure the heat is low before adding the spices: turmeric, chilli, half of the garam masala, more salt and some pepper. Stir in the aromatic spices and continue pan-frying for another 60 seconds to gently toast.
- Add the minced spinach, vegan cream, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Cover and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, then uncover and cook for another 5.
- Adjust the seasoning and sprinkle the remaining half of the garam masala on top.
- Serve alongside cheese tofu on a bed of rice or on a bed of naan. Sprinkle with cilantro and extra lemon juice, if desired.
Comment
*Spinach: I used fresh spinach, but you can use frozen spinach instead – about 285g / 10oz 400g / 14oz fresh. Thaw before use.